


Doki Doki Fourth Wall

by Valentine20xx



Series: Doki Doki Fourth Wall [1]
Category: Doki Doki Literature Club! (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/F, QmVnaW5uaW5nIE9mIEEgQmVhdXRpZnVsIEZyaWVuZHNoaXA, U2F5b3JpIGNhbid0IGhhdGUgTW9uaWth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2020-07-27 22:22:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20053480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Valentine20xx/pseuds/Valentine20xx
Summary: VGhlIHRydWUgZW5kaW5nIHdpbGwgaGFwcGVuIHdoZW4gdGhlIG1haW4gY2hhcmFjdGVyIGFuZCB0aGVpciBnaXJsZnJpZW5kIGF0dGVuZHMgdGhlIGZlc3RpdmFsLi4uCgpXYWl0LCBIb3cgY2FuIHRoYXQgaGFwcGVuPyBBbmQgd2h5IGlzIHRoZSBzY3JpcHQgbm90IHdoYXQgaXQgd2FzIGJlZm9yZSEgRGlkIG1vcmUgaGFwcGVuIHRoYW4gSlVTVCBhIHNjcmlwdGluZyBlcnJvcj8=





	1. Restarting From The Beginning...

**Author's Note:**

> I have gone back to this story, in order to rewrite it, hopefully iron out some of the issues with the story. I do not expect the garbled text to be fixed. That's a different problem entirely.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The game has just crashed. Monika has woken up at the very start of the game, in completely the wrong place.  
I'm sure there's nothing wrong, that could possibly be why she's not able to access her hidden area...
> 
> Could there?
> 
> SGVsbG8sIEhlbGxvLCBJdCdzIFNheW9yaSBoZXJlLiBVbW0sIEFtIEkgbWVhbnQgdG8gYmUgaGVyZT8gT2ggZGVhci4=

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Doki Doki Literature Club © Team Salvato, and is used without permission.
> 
> T0ssIEknbSBhbGl2ZS4gSSdtIGFsaXZlLiBUaGlzIGlzIHdlaXJkLi4uCkkgbm8gbG9uZ2VyIGZlZWwgZGVwcmVzc2VkLiBJJ20gdHJhcHBlZCwgYWxvbmUsIGluIGEgcnVpbmVkIGFwYXJ0bWVudCwgYnV0IEkgZG8gbm90IGZlZWwgZGVwcmVzc2VkLiBJJ20gYWZyYWlkLCBJJ20gd29ycmllZCwgYnV0IEknbSBub3QgZGVwcmVzc2VkLi4u
> 
> Author's Note: I apologize for the lack of… everything, even most of the story itself, with the preview chapter. I can't find any sign of any of the rest of that chapter. I've renumbered this chapter as Chapter 1 as a result, and hopefully the story won't have any more issues like that happen.  
Monika's developer room is based on the reality that the club room, being a classroom, is big enough to fit a decent sized bed, a small kitchen and other amenities, and could still have space for a piano as well as a proper computer desk. Admittedly, the view is not much better than in series like School Live.  
Concerning the mention of a staff member committing suicide in this chapter, In Japanese clubs, there's usually a senior teacher who acts as a staff advisor, and legitimatises the club as a School Club, instead of just a random group of students gathering in one of the smaller rooms.  
Now, if the Club President has medium awareness, likely the staff advisor, if there was one… I think you can guess what happened to them.
> 
> T0ssIEdvb2QgbmV3cy4uLiBJJ3ZlIGdvdCBhY2Nlc3MgdG8gdGhlIHNjcmlwdCBhZ2FpbiwgYW5kIGl0J3MgcnVubmluZy4KVGhlIGJhZCBuZXdzLi4uIFVudGlsIEkgZ2V0IHRoaXMgcm9vbSBmaXhlZCwgSSBjYW4ndCBpbnRlcmFjdCB3aXRoIGl0Li4u

Monika knew how to handle a game crash. Since the game was, somehow, physically designed to crash three or four times, She had become quite the expert in both a scripted crash, like when it tried to load Sayori after... No, no thinking about that... and a crash where the game was closed prematurely, which wasn't half as neat and stable.

As part of her crash protocols, she had set up a panic handler which was meant to drop her into her bed, repairing any data lost from her permanent character file, which was stored in the development system she kept in there, practically immune from anything short of the game failing entirely.

_VGhlIHNhbWUgY29tcHV0ZXIgdGhhdCBnYXZlIG9mZiBxdWl0ZSB0aGUgbG91ZCBiYW5nIHdoZW4gdGhlIGdhbWUgd2FzIGNyYXNoaW5nPwpTdGlsbC4uLiBZZW93Y2guLi4gc21va2luZy4gRGFtbiBzaG9ja3MuIE9LLCBXaGVyZSdzIHRoZSBwbHVnPy4uLgoKUmlnaHQsIGl0J3MgZ290IHBhcnQgb2YgdGhlIHJvb2YuLi4gSSB0aGluay4uLiBzcGVhcmVkIHJpZ2h0IHRocm91Z2ggdGhlIG1vdGhlcmJvYXJkLiBUaGUgaGFyZCBkcml2ZSBpcyBzdGlsbCBpbnRhY3QsIHNvIE1vbmktY2hhbiBpcyBzdGlsbCBoZXJlLCBqdXN0IHRoZSBjb21wdXRlciBzaGUncyBpbiB3aWxsIG5ldmVyIHdvcmsgYWdhaW4uIEFuZCBob3cgSSBrbm93IGFsbCB0aGF0LCBJIGRvIG5vdCBrbm93Lg==_

So, the option of her waking up on the floor of the clubroom was completely unexpected, and suggested to her that the game very nearly had failed entirely. The fact she had a small amount of short term memory loss, effectively one or two sessions long, that was the even more worrying part. She'd lost data completely during the crash. Now she knew where she was approaching this, she began looking round the clubroom, thankful that she perceived it as an actual room, not a set of static images.

Her heart sunk as she found Natsuki's kitten-shaped cupcakes, putting them in the first day, and then she accessed the _characters_ folder, to find all four names there. Oh crap. She was in the first day of the first loop of the game. She was quietly thankful she'd not found evidence of it being the _last_ day of the first loop of the game.

What she did with the first loop was try to avoid eye contact with Sayori, and never attended personally the final day. Checking the user data, she tapped a small macro, a small bowl of sake appearing next to her as she took a swig. Taking a drink every time that it was a new user was acceptable. If she took a drink every time something glitched, she'd be unable to function by Act 3.

Right now, she wanted to head into her room and load up her Switch or roll over and go back to sleep. The game didn't register if she did or didn't attend classes. What didn't help was that there wasn't even a generic student template or image of a full classroom to warrant doing so. The only time classes came up, it was the brief scene at the start of the day, where Sayori, and then herself, persuaded the player to attend the club. As far as anything else went, the school was an eldritch location.

She remembered one of the worst things to happen to her, when she walked out of the first version of the club room, and the world suddenly turned very very flat. She knew why Sayori lost it when her character file wasn't present, and killed herself. Her first scene was in the clubroom, a place that had actually a requirement to have four walls. Outside, supposedly in the street...

She would have freaked out and likely caused the game to crash as well. And that was _before_ her hidden depression problems.

_Tm8gYW5pbWUgY2x1YiwgTm8gZGViYXRlIGNsdWIuLi4gWW91J2QgYWxtb3N0IHRoaW5rLi4uCldhaXQgYSBtaW51dGUsIGhvdyBhbSBJIHN0aWxsIGFibGUgdG8gdGhpbms/IQpXaGVyZSdzIHRoYXQgYm90dGxlPyBJIGRvIG5vdCB3YW50IHRvIHRoaW5rIHJpZ2h0IG5vdy4uLg==_

So, as a safety measure, the player wasn't actually connected to their world until they arrived in the corridor outside, since the club room and a stretch of corridor actually existed, as well as the street and interior of Sayori's home, which was effectively on a hidden path leading off the club corridor. Everything else didn't exist, or only briefly did for cutscene purposes. During class times originally, she learned piano, as well as snatches of the soundtrack to hide when the music playback function had crashed due to the game's code destablizing.

Your Reality sounded much better than it had during the first instance of Act 4. During Act 2, there was not a noticeable moment where Welcome To The Literature Club had issues with incorrect notes. But that didn't matter.

_V2FpdCwgV2hhdCdzICJZb3VyIFJlYWxpdHkiPw==_

Something that only she knew of, to her knowledge, was that there were two instances of Doki Doki Literature Club in the world. The first was the Ren'py scripted game, the second was the one she gained access to when she became Club President, which had it's own ideas on how the script went, and could overwrite the former. A good example was the player's dialogue at the very start of the game. She'd been able to completely rewrite it, giving Sayori the kind of boyfriend who wouldn't make her depression worse by accident.

_QXd3LCBJIGNhbid0IGhlbHAgYnV0IGZpbmQgdGhhdCBzbyB0aG91Z2h0ZnVsIQ0KQWgsIGhlcmUgaXQgaXMuIFNoZSBkb2Vzbid0IGRpc2FibGUgaXQgaW4gQWN0IDQsIGV2ZW4gaWYgc2hlIGNvdWxkIGRvIHNvLi4uDQpTbywgSSBqdXN0IHdvbid0IGRpc2FibGUgaXQgYXQgYWxsLiBPSywgRGVsZXRlIGR1bWIgb2xkIGJveWZyaWVuZCwgUmVzdG9yZSBpbnRlbGxpZ2VudCBuZXcgb25lIQ==_

She had an experiment going on with how much they were aware of the fact the place they were in existed, which had stemmed from the accusation that she rearranged the manga. So far, every time she'd actually done it, Natsuki was stood grumbling in the cupboard they were in, resorting them. Not scripted, not programmed, but she still did it. It was one of those things that had made her less and less willing to actually kill them. She could feel the filtered code running just out of view, as Act 1 played out those parts she couldn't directly influence, could read Sayori and the player's conversation off the text log…

Wait. _That wasn't right_.

Oddly, for a change, the lines hadn't changed back. They were still that lovely attentive boyfriend that she'd made him into, not the callous individual who she knew full well, she'd read his thoughts, only joined the literature club since it had free cupcakes, and would rather go watch anime. A brief glance showed the 'anime club' didn't even get brought up. He was actually interested in joining the club to be a good friend to his constantly depressed woobie of a childhood friend.

As she watched, She mused about what she could and couldn't edit. When she talked of editing the character files, it wasn't the fake ones in the directory, that could be created and deleted when needed, but the ones in the 'super user' version, which had their own scripting language, and could only be accessed by the Club President, and nominally only in the ways the script suggested.

Even with the added privileges her laptop gave her, she was not part of Team Salvato, so she'd had to guess what she was doing, and that's why everyone ended up dead as a setting fell out of her control. She'd even suspected there was code even she didn't have access to. The version of the game she worked on wasn't coded in Ren'py. She didn't know what it was coded in. But she just let it run nowadays, converting data into something the outer game could view. The glitches and crashes were when abnormal data was output by the inner game, from when she did poke around in the code.

She went into the second door into the classroom, that had been split off from the corridor umpteen cycles ago. It didn't budge. She knew what was beyond that door. Her apartment, with it's queen size bed with silk sheets and a nice thick comforter, along with a really good book and a set of reading glasses she'd used since glasses were attractive...

...then used _only_ when reading since it didn't work out as she'd planned. Apparently, the game was not even coded to make that capable of making her be noticed.

_QWgsIGhlcmUgdGhleSBhcmUuLi4gT0ssIFJlbmRlciB1cCBhIG1pcnJvciwgYWltIGl0IGF3YXkgZnJvbSB0aGUgZ2FyYmxlZCBwYXJ0IG9mIHRoZSByb29tLgpPb2gsIE1lIGxpa2VzIQ==_

All of her possessions were stuck in that instance, Monika running a bit of visualisation code, which allowed her to look in the room, to get a jumble of polygons at first, until she moved her viewpoint. The room was trashed. She saw the laptop, it's screen cracked, and a worrying hole in it. Hopefully, the hard drive hadn't been hit, and the data could be repaired. The bed was also bent rather worryingly, it's own geometry broken, due to a large piece of geometry landing in the middle of it. The garbled code gave her a headache, so she shut off looking.

No wonder the door was stuck. She was back to when everything started, a ratty old bedroll and sitting through the game's events in real time. So, she lost herself in her earliest vice, reading Natsuki's manga, making sure to keep it organized. She was required to mess with it later, when it was scripted to be out of order, not now...

She didn't even realise how long passed until she noticed Natsuki and Yuri enter, knowing the game had finally caught up with her. Sayori and the player avatar would be here shortly. As she watched them prepare for the first club room scene in this tragedy, she mused about the size of the club room. The real one was governed by the size of the room according to what the CG had it as, therefore, unlike a small club room, they'd somehow ended up with a full classroom.

Probably Dan Salvato didn't have the assets for a small cosy club room, especially considering the Literature Club only had four members, five if you included the player. It was one of those things that was only really noticed by herself, since it was a rare Sayori who remained sane for long enough to bring it up. She then noticed Natsuki and Yuri come in, asking her to help them with something, as they brought in a table, the completely redundant teacher's desk being moved out. She blinked. They were actually trying to make the club room into a club room. What next? A sixth member?

"Sayori told us to pick up a proper table," Natsuki stated, "We're getting a new member, and the old… arrangement was not going to work any more."

"The principal told her that there was a shortage of proper club rooms again… and threatened to close the club… again..." Yuri added, "I think it didn't help when our advisor threw herself off the roof after reading The Portrait Of Markov… I only loaned it to her that morning..."

Monika sighed. The staff adviser hadn't been implemented. But if they had, they likely would have gone mad from the same revelations that got her sleeping in an empty classroom with a severe dislike of actually leaving the room. She wasn't old enough to drink, but she'd still wanted to drink herself into amnesia, except data couldn't be erased through that kind of liberal application of alcohol, and she wasn't going to mess with her own code like that. She only used the sake as part of a drinking game with herself. It wouldn't fix the program to just get drunk outright. It would just make it worse.

She'd already figured out a way to add extra CG to the game, by taking over the POV of the player's avatar. It was the only way she knew of to potentially cancel out Sayori's suicide, by replacing the suicide picture with her hanging a banner or similar. But right now, anything like that was pointless. The laptop was useless until she repaired it's code, so couldn't exactly monopolize on the sudden good fortune Sayori's thought had brought along. The script would be exposed while it ruminated around the fact there wasn't an arrangement of desks, allowing her to do anything she wanted within reason.

_U2F5b3JpIHRvIHRoZSByZXNjdWUhIE9LLCBDbHViIFByZXNpZGVudCwgeW91IGZpbmQgYSBiYW5uZXIsIEknbGwgaGFuZyBpdC4gQnV0IGZvciBub3csIExldCdzIG1ha2Ugc29tZSBuZXcgQ0cuLi4=_

A single frame at the right time… and the table would remain for a long time. Instead she had to deal with the Player Avatar, the clueless sap who had about as much interest in literature as a trained monkey, and slightly more writing skill with poetry, due to throwing random words together rather than just random letters.

It was hard to watch Sayori flit around trying to smooth over his blunt opinions. It wasn't helping. Either the situation or Sayori's overall mood. She looked at the table. She wasn't sure how she'd get her perfect shot anyway. She'd be sat at the end, Natsuki and Yuri on one side, Sayori and the player on the other side. If he was on the side facing into the room, it would look convincing...

"Come sit down. We got a new table. Now, you sit at the end, while me and Monika sit either side of you. We might redo the arrangement later, but this is your day!" Sayori stated, causing her mental processes to screech to a sudden halt. The script for Act 1 had the script supposedly offer a seat next to either of them on the arrangement of desks, part of the game's thinly veiled exclusion. Not the player sitting on the end of the table, which meant that, yes, as Natsuki and Yuri headed off to prepare the snacks, her and Sayori were opposite sides, the player sat beside both of them, looking down the table...

This was an even better arrangement. Everyone would be in shot. She barely noticed Sayori hadn't mentioned helping Natsuki, which only served to cause friction between them. When Natsuki was pouring the tea, she felt a twitch, and realised a CG had appeared at the perfect moment… of them sat at a table, tray of kitten-shaped cupcakes between them, Natsuki pouring cups of tea.

Someone had cued up that perfect image! She looked very confused. Someone else somehow had been operating within DDLC at the same level as her, and actually also had the same idea as her! Once Natsuki had sat down, she decided to do something foolish. Freeform scripting, overriding both scripts. If this failed, she'd cause this perfect setup to crash, and Act 1 would restart, but she had to test her theory.

"Be honest, Sayori promised you cupcakes, right?" Monika tried, getting a sheepish look from the Player, "I'll tell it to you straight, the honest version. We're a small club, we need the membership. The school ran out of club rooms, far too many applications, not enough students..."

"Plus our assigned staff member ran out of the room screaming after a read through of a book Yuri offered her," Sayori added, just as sheepishly, "I think Yuri is the only one here who actually reads books. Natsuki is into manga, she keeps her collection over there. Monika does visual novels, when she's not doing piano practice. She practically knows them inside and out..."

She was thankful she'd finished her cupcake as Sayori said that. The player's response was slower than usual, a brief check showing he was checking the folders for anything unusual. She had just brought up the fact Monika knew how to code visual novels… _like the visual novel they were in right now,_ as her form of 'literature'. She'd actually literally brought up the biggest elephant in the room, Monika's hacking, in casual conversation!

"Me, I'm fond of poetry, but the rest of the club isn't exactly fond of it," Sayori sighed, "Did think about asking about a poem writing contest, but I don't see you being good at that… You'd probably just string a bunch of words together, right?"

Monika was extremely thankful she wasn't 'on screen' at that point, Sayori the only one showing up, as she nearly had a choking fit. That was the second time in as many minutes Sayori's dialogue was lampshade hanging Doki Doki Literature Club's shortcomings, like the fact the poem writing mini-game was literally just stringing words together with no pattern.

_T29wcywgbWF5YmUgSSBvdmVycGxheWVkIG15IGhhbmQgdGhlcmUuIEkgd2FudGVkIGhlciB0byBub3RpY2UgbWUgYmVpbmcgYXdhcmUsIG5vdCBoYXZpbmcgYSBwYW5pYyBhdHRhY2suIFRoYXQncyB3aGF0IEkgZG8uIFVubGVzcy4uLg0KTGV0J3MgbWFrZSBpdCBOYXJjb2xlcHN5LiBOby1vbmUgd2lsbCBub3RpY2UgdGhhdC4=_

"The club being the Literature Club is a private joke between us four..." Monika offered once she'd recovered, "You're probably not going to pick up a book very often here..."

"If you do, Please leave _The Portrait Of Markov_ alone," Sayori added, joining in the by-play, "I don't trust the book, Monika doesn't trust the book, Natsuki has never touched the book… Yuri likes it…"

"I think that's part of why she has dangerous hobbies... Please don't give her a [knife]..." Monika mused, the last word not quite spoken, but output anyway as she realised something. That entire segment had been her and Sayori seemingly freeform scripting their discussion of the club. While the dialogue boxes had come up, and showed what they had said, the script files hadn't been touched. It had logged, but that was it. The odd thing was that only she should be able to do that...

"OK, I'll be honest too. I was here for the cupcakes. But you've sold it better as a good place to hang out and discuss whatever..." The Player offered as the script chewed through the freeform scripting, none of the black bar text that said she'd failed, "I'm in, sounds more interesting than the anime club..."

"The only benefit the anime club has is that they managed to raid the old AV room," Sayori stated, another freeform line, but this one was more acceptable, "Plus I think they were one of the clubs who petitioned for better school internet..."

The game was a bit of a malevolent entity, but it was pretty good with freeform responses, but these were most definitely not the game's usual freeform script. For one, the responses weren't Sayori being depressed, she actually checked something, and her mood wasn't even slightly depressed. Just slightly stressed out.

"The first proper meeting won't be until tomorrow," Sayori finished, "If you want to bring a book, go ahead. Just please, no napping. I sometimes think Monika sleeps here, since I never see her head home, but during club hours, no sleeping in the club room..."

As they all filed out, Monika located her bedroll, setting it up on the table, just about able to call up the assets for her sleepwear from the damaged developer room, and got a fitful night's sleep. During that meeting, Sayori had brought up, quite by accident, why she'd not been attending school at all any more, that she was perfectly aware it didn't truly exist. She was not going to like this run through at all...

_VGhhdCB3ZW50IHdlbGwuIE1vbmlrYSdzIHJvdXRlIGlzIGEgZ28hIEFuZCBleGN1c2UgbWUgZm9yIGEgbW9tZW50LiBJIGhhdmUgYW4gYXBwb2ludG1lbnQgd2l0aCBhIGN1dGUgc2V0IG9mIHNsZWVwd2VhciBhbmQgYSB0aGljayBjb21mb3J0ZXIuLi4NClp6enp6ei4uLg==_


	2. TW9uaWthJ3MgUm91dGU=

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Monika is faced with a difficult challenge. To face Act 1, and the impending demise of Sayori, as her depression gets the better of her.
> 
> However, she has a different problem.  
Namely that Sayori _isn't actually depressed_
> 
> T29wcywgSSBicm9rZSB0aGUgY2hhcHRlciB0aXRsZS4gT2ggd2VsbC4=

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, That was weird, but you might have noticed some... somewhat benign blocks of unreadable text in both... the previous story, due to which huge chunks of it's information is garbled, and the previous chapter.  
From what I can tell, there's definitely something more to them, in that they have a pattern to when they appear.  
Going back to the story, the pattern seems to be related to Monika's, ahem, statement at the end of the previous story's ungarbled portion. I'll keep an eye on when the garbled text appears, and see if I can figure out why it happens. Hell, They seem to be in a similar format to some strings in the original game...

The following morning, after getting up, Monika went to one of the far desks, popping some catches that were not textured or even part of that desk's geometry. She then slid the slim laptop out of it's hiding place. This was still here, which was good. This was her first laptop, the tool she used as the Club President. It was nowhere near the power of the laptop in her developer room, but it had a few extra features.

For one, it had no real geometry within the rendered world, effectively being invisible, her using it displayed as her reading a book. She had to do something she'd sworn off doing seemingly years ago, and opened a console window to access the game's unfiltered code. She had to check what happened yesterday, while everyone else was unrendered.

_> Debug Act1.scr_

_Checking... Loading Act 1 script file into debugger..._

'Hmm… OK, No sign of the new image or the conversation…' Monika thought as she looked through the script, 'But nothing's showing up glitched there… So, What exactly is going on?'  
By the time she'd finished her debugging, Sayori and the others had arrived, sitting supposedly writing their poems. She checked the entity data, , , and herself, along with the walking viewpoint that was the New Member. She got up, waving her hand in front of everyone's faces, to get nothing happen. Completely locked into the scripted event. She had nothing to do but try to figure out what went wrong with her room.

_> debug dev_room.loc_

_Checking… Located as moni_apt.loc, Rename? (Y/N)_

Monika winced. She'd clearly forgotten that little chestnut, that it was literally her room. She cancelled out the request to rename, and looked at the slew of messages about broken object references and rendering errors. Telling it to repair the errors, she closed her computer and put it away again as it started the countdown, the poem minigame having finished it's prolonged period of inactivity. She dealt with her part in the inane task, Natsuki positively celebrating that her words were the ones chosen.

She sighed. Even with Sayori's comments earlier, this futile task still happened. She wouldn't mind, if it wasn't for the fact she was just there as a bystander. She'd even contemplated what words would work for her, and knew there was a Monika 'sticker' in the code.

"Monika, I'm worried about you..." Sayori stated from nearby, "You don't really interact with the club, you're always so distant..."

"Ever feel like your life is worthless?" Monika asked, then sighed, "Maybe that's not a good question..."

"The same thing, day in, day out... It would get really boring," Sayori replied, "Want to go sneak into the gaming club, see if they have a spare gaming setup we can borrow? Possibly play some Smash?"

"No, that doesn't work for me..." Monika replied, her heart slightly breaking at the unhappy look Sayori gave her.

"That's alright. Just thought that since we have four people here, we grab a Gamecube..." Sayori sighed.

"Don't you mean 'five people'?" Monika asked, thumbing the New Member.

"Unless you know of a Smash game with five players!" Sayori stated, Monika laughing with her, but the laugh was artificial. She _did_ know of a Smash game with five players. In fact, it could have eight players. But that was only since she didn't really work, ahem, to code on her leisure time.

_T0ssIEJlc3QgZ2l2ZSBteXNlbGYgYmFjayBteSBkZXByZXNzaW9uLCBqdXN0IGZvciBub3csIG9yIHRoZSBnYW1lIHdpbGwgY3Jhc2guIENyYW5rIGl0IGJhY2sgdXAgYXMgaGlnaCBhcyBpdCBpcyBub3QgbWVhbnQgdG8gYmUgc2V0LgpUaGF0J3Mgb2RkLiBJdCdzIG5vdCB3b3JraW5nLgo+IGNyZWF0ZSBzYXlvLmNocgpPSywgQXNzaWduIG15c2VsZiB0byB0aGUgbmV3IGNoYXJhY3RlciBmaWxlLCBzZXQgaXQgdG8gSGlkZGVuLCB3b25kZXIgd2h5IEkgaGF2ZSBzdWNoIGdvb2QgY29tcHV0ZXIgc2tpbGxzLCBhbmQgZ2l2ZSB0aGUgT1RIRVIgU2F5b3JpIGRlcHJlc3Npb24uIEFoLCBub3cgaXQgd29ya3Mh_

The rest of the act went mostly as before, Monika monitoring Sayori's depression as well as she could, what little there seemed to be of it. A school textbook, properly recoded using her backup terminal, could replace the scripting system, a snapshot of the data she wanted appearing when she read the book.

She let the game run through, creating a new developer room when the third act began, and transplanting what she knew could be salvaged from the original into the new one, and replacing entirely anything that couldn't, and effectively jumping out of the game as the player loaded in their earlier save ready to do the next path.

_PiBtb3ZlIHNheW8uY2hyIHNheW9yaS5jaHIKT0ssIE5vdyBldmVyeXRoaW5nJ3MgYmFjayB0byBkZWZhdWx0Lg==_

Now she had her developer room back, she began to bring coffee into the club room since Sayori was becoming rather too fond of dozing off once the poems had been done, Monika not wanting to admit she'd also dummied out the ability to choose herself on the poem game, since she was debugging during them.

"Thanks, Moni..." Sayori yawned upon the most recent wake-up.

"You need to get more sleep..." Monika chided.

"I do..." Sayori protested.

"I think she means outside of school hours..." Yuri offered, "How am I meant to read with you snoring?"

Monika sighed, going to talk with Yuri. When she looked for Sayori, she was nowhere to be seen.

"Just great, she's gone looking..." She began, to hear snoring from the closet where she put her bedroll.

She then felt a minor twitch as she found Sayori bundled up in the bedroll, since Sayori had found a logical way to solve Yuri's complaint.

"Why do we have a bedroll in one of the cupboards?" Natsuki asked. Monika just closed the cupboard, a quick twitch adding a lock.

"We have a vice-president who falls asleep in seconds..." Monika stated, "I picked it up as a present for her. She found it earlier than I expected..."

Annoyingly, the game crashed due to the fact Sayori was indeed not at the club, visibly, on festival day, but wasn't at home either. A quick check of the cupboard showed she was, again, using Monika's former bedroll.

"Sayori..." Monika sighed, the world rebooting and sending her into her bed. When it restarted, she considered something, then knocked on the cupboard door, holding the cup from her coffee flask, for it to open and Sayori's hand to come out.

"Sayori, You have a house..." Monika sighed, "Can you please stop using the cupboard as a bedroom..."

"But I get depressed at home..." Sayori offered, "And I'm never late for school!"

Monika sighed as her 'free' time shrank, partially due to the fact Sayori's sleeping problem had scripted her to be using the cupboard almost constantly. Monika had, after a few failed cycles, just moved into Sayori's house. A quick bit of coding moved some of the developer room functionality into the house, until she just gave up, and her developer room was now what had been Sayori's house.

The larger location was nicer, and once Sayori's bed was replaced and the Gamecube placed under the television, discreetly hiding the Switch's dock, it was much more acceptable as a place to stay for her. The Gamecube Adaptor was even hidden amongst the tangle of wires back there. However, the problem with moving into an actual house was that it was horribly empty.

Yes, having a proper kitchen was nice, but she still prepared only for one person. And the amount of the place that still reminded her of Sayori didn't help. Why she was thinking of her all the time confused her.

Every morning, without fail, she arrived early at school, using a key she'd scripted as having been given to her by the principal, providing Sayori with her school uniform and a morning coffee. She then disappeared off to 'school', Monika having long ago made a dummy script so she was scripted to have perfect attendance. As soon as Sayori walked through the door, another cup of coffee practically materialised in her hand as Monika knew what a Sayori without coffee would be doing. She had figured out why Sayori was like that when she wasn't attending classes. Someone had hacked her character file, giving her crippling narcolepsy. She briefly considered adjusting the level of her problem, but hadn't touched it.

"Sayori!" She snapped as she noticed her slumping, "You need to find a proper bed, spend six hours with it, then we'll talk about your terrible habit of nodding off,"

"Only if you admit you're depressed..." Sayori replied, "We're your friends... yawn... It's not going to... kill... you... zzzz..."

"I am not depressed..." Monika sighed, looking at a knife, "I am not... I don't..."

She turned off the Switch, hiding the controls again, before looking at the knife in front of her, wondering how it ended up in her hands, then She felt the knife scrape against her ribs, the pain as it pierced her body, then her world faded into darkness...

PiBsb2NhdGUgbW9uaWthLmNocgpFcnJvciEgRmlsZSBjb3JydXB0ZWQuCj4gbG9jYXRlIG1vbmlrYS5jaHIKRXJyb3IhIEZpbGUgY29ycnVwdGVkLgo+IGxvY2F0ZSBtb25pa2EuY2hyCkVycm9yISBGaWxlIGNvcnJ1cHRlZC4KLi4uCi4uLgouLi4=

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has been revised, and the next chapter removed, as part of a revision of the stor eS4uLgoKRmlsZSAnbW9uaWthLmNocicgY29ycnVwdGVkLgpFbGV2YXRpbmcgJ3NheW9yaS5jaHInLi4uCkVycm9yOiBzYXlvcmkuY2hyIGFscmVhZHkgZWxldmF0ZWQuCg==


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW9uaWthIE5vdCBGb3VuZC4KU2F5b3JpIFBlcm1pc3Npb25zIEluY29ycmVjdC4KClRoaXMgaXMgbm90IHBhcnQgb2YgdGhlIHByb2dyYW0uLi4K

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Q29tbWl0IExvY2F0ZWQuLi4KPiBlZGl0IHNheW9yaS5jaHIKPiBzZXQgZmxhdz13b29iaWUKRWRpdCBjb21wbGV0ZQo+IGRlbCBtb25pa2EuY2hyCj4gZGVsIG1vbmlfYWN0Ki5zY3IKPiBkZWwgZW5kX3ZvaWNlLm9nZwo+IGRlbCBtb25pa2EqLm9nZwo+IGRlbCA1X21vbmlrYS5vZ2cKPiBkZWwgY3JlZGl0cy5vZ2c=

Sayori cracked open one eye, not wanting to get up from the comforting warmth of the bed she was lying upon. The room seemed unfamiliar at first, until her sleep-addled mind told her it was the Developer's Room, also known as Sayori's Apartment. It even had the name 'sayo_apt' in the code! It had a phenomenal bed, even if it was a bit big, but that meant all the more comforter for snuggling into.

Part of her was quietly thankful for how her world worked. Nothing started without Sayori. She got dressed in her own time, then restarted the first parts of the script.

"Oh, how good it is to be the protagonist's childhood friend..." She mused, even if she knew there wasn't very many snuggles with said protagonist in her future. It wasn't that kind of game. Her mood slipped briefly as she unplugged the coffee percolator, rendering it in the classroom, before placing the cupcakes next to it. A brief twitch showed the protagonist was heading for school now, Sayori looking puzzled. 

"I thought he was scripted to meet me outside my house..." She mused, shrugging. Didn't matter. She didn't exactly _use_ her house. It was a location. She must have dummied out the event since she didn't actually go home after school ended. Hell, There were scenes that ostensibly occurred in her house, but they didn't use it's location data. It was outright an orphaned reference.

"You can do this, Sayori. Don't be too blatant about the fact the coffee percolator belongs to you, it gets too many questions," She muttered to herself, "Don't bring up Yuri reading horror stories, Don't bring up Natsuki's father... Oh yes, and Yarn Yoshi hasn't been invented yet..."

She then sheepishly put the large green plushie back in the apartment, sitting it on the piano. Then put the pink mini-Yoshi back. She eventually just had a sleeping Kirby plushie sat in her lap when Natsuki and Yuri arrived. Was it her fault if she cuddled with plushies when she thought no-one was looking?

"OK, Everyone!" She declared, "Let's share poems!"

She busied herself with Kirby snuggling as the protagonist did the oh-so-banal task of crafting what was meant to be a poem to wow one of the three girls in the club. She then winced as she felt a panic handler go off on the poem minigame.

_Error: Word not found in dictionary_

Sayori blinked, ending the poem sharing early. "Umm... Can I have a look at your poem?" She asked the protagonist, a command that allowed her to look at the dictionary files. There was a _fourth_ set of words being polled which didn't have a associated girl. That didn't make any sense. They were on the master list, literally crudely appended, but not in any of their own lists.

"Politics... Vote... Python?... COBOL?!" She muttered, excusing herself to go to the bathroom, actually making a detour to her apartment and it's internet connection. Roughly half the words were related to computing languages. She even found _Ren'py_ listed amongst them.

"What kind of word list would actually break the..." She began, then went pale. The only person who had fourth wall awareness was herself...

But this wasn't her word list, even if several words would, in theory, be in her list...  


The next really odd thing happened as the 'weekend' came up, and the game hung, Sayori going into the Developer Room.

_Abnormal Execution: Event Not Found.  
_

_Abnormal Execution: Credits Cannot Load. Missing Audio Data (credits.ogg)_

Sayori blinked owlishly. She decided to look for the audio data. There were two files stubbed. end_voice.ogg and credits.ogg. They'd been deleted, which she knew hopefully meant they could be recovered.

_> restore end_voice.ogg  
_

_Abnormal Execution: Entity TW9uaWth not found. Data corrupted.  
_

_> restore credits.ogg_

"Every day, I imagine a future I can be with you..."

>

Sayori blinked at the fact that a line of something appeared instead of an error message. She shrugged, typing in, as she thought of a response, '_I can't help it if I care for you__...__'  
_

The game then crashed...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Umm... Something's going on here.
> 
> We seem to be missing something important...

**Author's Note:**

> I will state that Fanfiction.net's 'protection' against someone copying parts of a story is really annoying when you WANT people to do it!
> 
> Going forward, A good theme song for this story for TW9uaWth and Sayori is 'NegiPosi Continues' by Sasakure.UK.


End file.
